Some days ago, I saw at a professional board a post proposing a "contest" for a logo design that rewarded the winner with $1000.
This community has around 20000 participants, of which many -I am sure- submitted their design.
It "looks" like a contest, it was "proposed" as a contest. Yet, objectively speaking, the company got hundreds if not thousands of employees working on a project, by paying to only one of them.
This is a very clever technique for companies that are "just starting" to fulfill their projects with a limited budgets: If they later hire the professional into the permanent employee workforce. Discarding him/her after the job is done for a pitiful sum is just... Wrong.
Now, I've noticed that this methodology is used in several other categories as a "feature" instead of as a "cheap workforce".
One of these categories is games.
The modding of games is no old thing, with the advent of internet and the hype of "sharing" entire websites are knitted around modding communities for them to share their creations. One of these sites is NexusMods a really good website that covers mods for several games.
One that I particularly enjoy is Fallout 4.
There is a particular faction that lacks of "power armor" skins for them, despite being the most technologically advanced faction in there: The Institute.
Not because of the lack of ideas!
The sketches and concept art was there:
Bethesda -a multmillionaire company- simply, didn't place it there. Yet, the modding community did!
m150's Institute Power Armor HD Retexture
They got a guy, to do their job, for free.
I don't know you, but I am personally sickened by today's trend of games being released incomplete and sold in parts as DLC.
Yes, at least THOSE mods are free, yet, others aren't. Mischievous biz scheme.
OH! LOOK AT THAT! There's an entire category in Steemit that exploits that too!
CONTEST